Cystic Fibrosis is one of the UK's most common inherited diseases and is life-threatening.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Ben Mercer

Cystic Fibrosis

Introduction

Cystic Fibrosis is one of the UK's most common inherited diseases and is life-threatening. Cystic Fibrosis affects over 8,500 people in the UK however over two million people in the UK carry the faulty gene that causes Cystic Fibrosis. If two carriers have a child, the baby has a 1 in 4 chance of having Cystic Fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, by clogging them with thick sticky mucus, this makes it hard to breathe and digest food. Every week 2 people die due to cystic Fibrosis. Around half of the CF population can expect to live over 38 years, although new treatments mean a baby born today could expect to live even longer.(1)

Cause

A defect in the CFTR gene is the cause of cystic fibrosis. The CFTR gene makes proteins which control salt and water transportation through the cell membrane. In people who have CF, the different coding of the gene means a different protein is made which ant perform the same tasks. This causes thick, sticky mucus and very salty sweat. However some research suggests that the CFTR